October 7 – Happy Birthday, Niels Bohr

What
can I say about a man who—while fleeing from the Nazis
himself—refused his flight to safety until he made sure that other Danish Jews would have a place to go, as well?

Well,
for one thing, I can say that he was a hero!

Niels
Bohr was a famous scientist who contributed a lot to our knowledge
about atoms and about quantum physics. Born on this date in 1885 in
Copenhagen, Denmark, hen Bohr was just 20 years old, he won a gold
medal competition in physics. In order to enter this competition, he
had to use his dad's physiology lab because Bohr's university had no
physics laboratory! Also, Bohr had to learn how to blow glass so he
could create the kind of test tubes that he needed. When it came to
actual assigned experiment, Bohr went above and beyond what the
contest required—which is no doubt why he won! Much later in his
career, Bohr won the highest prize in science: the Nobel prize.

As
fascinating and important as Bohr's scientific career is, I find it
interesting that he was so helpful in rescuing people during World
War II. He gave Jewish scientists who were worried about Hitler temporary jobs at his institute, thus providing
them financial support; he also arranged for many to receive
fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, and he helped the
scientists find permanent jobs elsewhere in the world, far from
Europe.

After
Hitler invaded Denmark, when it looked like Jewish people were about
to be arrested and deported, Bohr was taken out of Denmark on a boat and carried off to safety in Sweden. As soon as he stepped foot in
Sweden, Swedish government officials informed him of their orders to
get him safely to the United States so he could work on an atomic
bomb project. However, Bohr was worried about all the Jews in Denmark
who were not important physicists. He refused to go anywhere until
the Swedish king announced on radio and in newspaper that Sweden
would take in all the Danish Jews—that they would have a new home in Sweden.
Eventually Bohr made this plea in person to Sweden's King Gustaf—and
Sweden did indeed take in around 7,800 Jewish Danes.

(Some
historians believe that, even without Bohr's efforts, Sweden would
have taken in the refugees. But other historians say that Bohr's
personal plea made a huge difference in how these events played out.)Last (and certainly least), Bohr was even able to save two scientists' Nobel medals from the Nazis (who would have undoubtedly melted them down)! Bohr directed that the medals be dissolved in acid! I know you are wondering why dissolving a gold medal in acid is better than melting a gold medal down into a lump—but the Nazis would have that gold lump to pay for weapons and ammunition. Whereas, after the war, the scientists were able to precipitate the gold from the acid and have the Nobel committee re-strike their medals. Good as new!

Back
to Atoms...

Check
out this YouTube video
of the structure of an atom. (Note: This super-simple look doesn't
get into the quantum realities that Bohr worked out.)

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This site is designed to be a source of interesting articles for kids and a resource for teachers and parents (especially homeschool teacher/parents!). From world holidays to historical anniversaries, Every Day Is Special celebrates each and every day.